Older Entries

04/27/11 - A Word From Johnston Farms

We just heard from Christy at Johnston Farms. They haven't been at the Port Angeles Farmers' Market lately, but they are planning on coming back by summer. For now, the Clark Family Farm beef people are selling some of her salad mix, and if you call (360-452-1936) first, they'll be selling salad mix and other vegetables at the farm on Heusline Road off Old Olympic. That's great news. Johnston Farms was a real important part of the market.

Salad mix - That's proof!

Keywords: clark family, farmers' market, farms, johnston farm, port angeles

02/06/11 - Farmers' Market in February

This isn't prime farmers' market season. It's the middle of the winter, but our hardy local food providers have been putting on a good show, all things considered. Johnston and Lazy J Farms have been selling their braising greens. Apparently, all it takes is a bit of sun, and out of the ground come little mustard leaves and the like, all ready for the pan. We have a way to go before the spring crops appear, but it is worth checking out the market, even this time of year.

Korean food is great for warming up in the winter. It's cold in Korea this time of year.

We made a great Greek stew with our Clark Family pork chops. It's great pork.

Good To Go has their own pastries on sale. They are the only baker in Port Angeles these days.

Aside from their famous potatoes, Lazy J has brussels sprouts, leeks and their own braising mix.

Mystery Bay has lots of oysters, large and small.

Keywords: clark family, farmers' market, farms, good to go, oysters, port angeles, winter

08/12/10 - The Summer Port Angeles Farmers' Market

We haven't been writing very much about the Port Angeles Farmers' Market lately. This has not been because we haven't been shopping there, but because we've been lazy. The slow start to the season didn't help, but now the summer vegetables are coming in thick and fast. The Korean Garlic Lady is selling her wonderful, almost overpowering garlic, along with her excellent scallions. Lazy J and Johnston Farms have their great potatoes. Everybody seems to be selling cauliflower, and it's about time.

We should also note that Mount Townsend Creamery is selling Trailhead again. They aren't getting their milk from Dungeness Valley Creamery anymore, but the cheese is almost as good as ever.

Trailhead cheese is back.

Great garlic

Potatoes! We're saved!

Cauliflower in living color.

Those are Nash's watermelons.

Lazy J always puts on a great display.

More vegetables

Keywords: farmers' market, farms, johnston farm, port angeles, shopping, summer, mount townsend creamery

05/10/10 - The Commodities Market

We've decided to go for some commodity trading, so we bought some hog belly futures from Johnston Farms. Right now they are just piglet futures and are as cute as anything.

Oink, oink, oink!

Keywords: farms, johnston farm

05/01/10 - Johnston Farm Greenhouse

We dropped by Johnston Farms and checked out the greenhouse which is full of little plants in big flats. We bought some greens, and we bought some hog futures, that is, we put down our deposit for a half a pig, suitably butchered, to be delivered this fall. We were going to buy a tranche of collateralized farm animal securities, but we'll settle for a tranche of pork.

The ventilation system

Flats

More flats

Keywords: farms, johnston farm, spring

04/11/10 - Farmers' Market Update

When the icy winter winds howl through the Port Angeles Farmers' Market at the Gateway Center, it seems as if a mere handful of survivors huddle in its vasty space. Now that the Gateway is beset more with icy spring winds, that huddle of survivors has grown to a goodly number of farmers and other vendors, and the vasty space is filling up nicely.

One of this week's arrivals was Mount Townsend Creamery. They're based in Port Townsend, and they've been selling some pretty good cheeses for a few years now. One of our favorites, their Trailhead cheese, seems to have vanished, but they've replaced it with a new cheese, Red Alder, and from our sample, it seems to be just as good. Another new cheese, their washed rind tomme, also seems to be a Trailhead descendant. They are both farmhouse cheeses, great for melting on toast. They're also selling their Seastack and Cirrus cheeses, which are soft, rather than farmhouse in style, and, for a real treat, they have their delicate fromage blanc.

Other notes: There are more greens, everywhere. The garlic shoots made a great stir fry, and check out Johnston Farm for their garlic radish leaves. They were great sauteed.

Mount Townsend Creamery will be at the market, and they are selling two new cheeses.

Westwind Farms with their potatoes

Nash Huber's stand in the foreground as the market fills out for the season

Lazy J greens

Bell Street Bakery

Keywords: farmers' market, farms, johnston farm, nash huber, port angeles, westwind farm, mount townsend creamery

03/31/10 - Early Spring at the Port Angeles Farmers' Market

It's still rather wintry out there, but we are seeing signs of spring, at least at the Farmers' Market. There are more vegetables coming in, including some good cauliflower at Nash Huber's stand, and, if you are Jewish, the all too seasonal Passover horseradish at Westwind Farms.

Since we live on garlic, we've been haunting the Garlic Lady, who has our favorite scallions in stock, but no garlic yet. We're waiting.

We should also note a newcomer, Kol Nidre Farms, offering lamb for sale. We haven't tried any yet, but we plan to, and we'll report here. It's great to see more local foods at the market. For years, people offered the fruits and vegetables, but now one can also find mushrooms, seafood and meat. We are never going to become true locavores. We'll never give up coffee, but we do like to support our local suppliers.

Westwind Farm celebrates the horseradish harvest.

Our favorite scallions, but no garlic yet

Kol Nidre Farm: newcomer offering lamb

Keywords: farmers' market, farms, nash huber, spring, westwind farm

01/31/10 - Clark Farms Beef at the Farmers' Market

We noticed a newcomer at the Port Angeles Farmers' Market this past Saturday, the Clark Farms beef people. They had a sign, some nice brochures and a big freezer pack full of beef. We had to try some, so we bought a pair of t-bone steaks, nicely packed and frozen. We put them to the test at Kaleberg Laboratories. That meant a session in the microwave for thawing, then heat processing in our broiler, not far from the electric coils. We applied hard infrared to push our sample to medium rare. That's a technical term.

Then came the actual testing. We applied our utensils, and transferred subsamples from plate to palate. The steaks were great, with a good, deep beefy flavor and a surprisingly tender texture. They weren't as fatty as Peter Luger's t-bone steaks, but they were better than the usual industrial beef by a long shot. Of course, these are just our preliminary Kaleberg results. We have a lot more testing to do, so we'll be looking for Clark Farms at next week's market.

The folks behind the beef

Our test sample

Their brochure

Keywords: farmers' market, farms

06/14/09 - Angelcrest Farm

We recently needed a new hanging basket, so we stopped at Angelcrest Farm on route 112, west of Port Angeles. We had driven by quite a few times, but never had occasion to stop in. Now we had an excuse, and we were well rewarded. They had a great variety of hanging baskets, and a good selection of plants on sale. We bought a white fuschia, and we plan to return.



Keywords: port angeles, farms, flowers

05/10/09 - Farmers' Market Update

The Port Angeles Farmers' Market is really gearing up with more and more vendors arriving each weekend. The stalwarts, Westwind, Johnston and Nash Huber, were there along with a lot of others including Red Dog, Bob's, Black Sheep, Lazy J farms. (We apologize if we missed a few.)

The big news this week is that Westwind Farms has their amazing asparagus, but do come early.

Tuna Dan was the first regular at the market selling seafood, right now halibut and ling cod; he has been joined by at least two others include Wild West and Quil Bay. The latter two are selling clams and oysters, as well as fish. This has been a great new addition to the market.

There were also two bakeries at the market. Bell Street Bakery had their own booth from Sequim and Joy's mom was selling her own from another booth. Joy runs Joy's Wine Bistro in Port Angeles, in case you were wondering.

The Kim Chi lady was selling her Korean pickled cabbage and other Korean goodies. There is nothing like good strong Korean garlic. We also found out that it was Dynasty Restaurant selling dim sun. This time they had a nice sign.

We also saw Harley of Dry Creek Farm, though we didn't get a change to talk to him. We're hoping his chickens will be laying in June, and he'll be back with his Dry Creek stand.

Local produce is what it is all about.

Clams, oysters and fish - free nettles, what an incentive

More clams, oysters and seafood

Bell Street Bakery

Joy's Mom's bread

Vegetables and ...

... more vegetables

Dim sun from Dynasty

Kim Chi and other Korean goodies

Keywords: dry creek farm, farmers' market, farms, nash huber, port angeles, oysters, westwind farm


Dim Sun at the market.

05/02/09 - At The Farmers' Market

We were at the farmers' market today, and the place was bustling. Nash Huber, Johnston Farms, Lazy J and Red Dog were among the regulars along with the honey people at Elwha Apiary. We also noticed that the Wild West oyster people were here, and this week they were selling shucked oysters as well as oysters and clams in the shell. (We have to get a picture of their stand). There was also a dim sun stand. We didn't get to try any of their dumplings, having eaten right before heading down to the market, but we might plan differently next week.

Keywords: farmers' market, farms, johnston farm, nash huber, oysters

04/05/09 - Spring Comes to the Port Angeles Farmers' Market

To start with, Westwind Farm is offering nettles. You have to cook these carefully, but once blanched, they are delicious. We had ours in a soup with shitake mushrooms from Sunny Farms and miso from McFee's bodega. We also spotted fresh arugula and kale raab which is young kale with flowers, so spring cannot be far behind. As for the QuilBay oysters, we tried some. They were wonderful on the half shell. Finally, Johnston Farms is back for the season. It is good to see the market gearing up after a long winter.

Keywords: farms, johnston farm, spring, farmers' market, oysters, westwind farm

02/21/09 - Lazy J Farm - An Update

Lazy J Farm has some of the best potatoes on the Peninsula. Our favorites are the Austrian Crescents and the Ozettes. The latter were supposedly introduced to the area directly from Peru by the Spanish, way back when. Lazy J used to sell their potatoes, and other produce at the Farmers' Market, but they haven't been doing so lately. This situation is going to change.

The young lady in the picture, whose name we have foolishly forgotten, will be working with Lazy J, growing and marketing vegetables, theirs and her own. This is great news. Not only does it mean we'll be getting Lazy J potatoes, but it also means we'll have another farmer selling all kinds of local produce. We're really looking forward to this year's harvest.

Keywords: farms, farmers' market

02/03/09 - Swan Amongst the Swine

If you've ever been down Towne Road in Dungness, you have probably noticed the swine at Delta Farm. These are what you get when you order a pig share from Nash Huber. On some days, you'll also see swans, usually in large flocks. They seem to enjoy grubbing around in the same fields as the swine. We haven't been able to photograph them together which has fed some speculation as to their secret identities, but we figured we'd point out that these magnificent birds are visiting our region. You might want to check out the area, the swans, the farms and maybe even the swine.

Some swans

They settled in great herds. They're too big for flocks.

The setting

Keywords: birds, dungeness, farms, nash huber

   Older Entries